I'm going to add comments to the third round, but also thought I'd
provide a brief overview of my rounds afterwards.

(Upon conclusion, it's not as brief as I intended.)

> I was playing weenie Celerity guns rush, a deck tweaked
> slightly from the version Colin Riggs won a DC-area
> tournament with. 

Trey and I made tweak suggestions to Josh the night before...I knew
that if I ran up against him in the tournament, I was toast.

> Third round:
> 
> Joshua Duffin: Same as it ever was.
> Andy, err, sorry, forgot your last name too: Nu the Pillar
>                multi-rush - Protean support (Flesh of Marble)

Andy Genz.  From Nawlins.  Previously from Minneapolis.

> Christian Herro: Tremere bleed/some bruise (Mumble of the
>                False Will ;-)

Heh.  Yeah.  This was supposed to be a Group 2/3 deck based on my
earlier successful Tremere bruise/bleed decks, with a little more in
the way of permanents.  Sadly, it never did very well.  Took too long
to get moving, I think.

> Matt Guinn: Ventrue like it's 1994 old-school vote/bleed

In theory, just the deck *my* deck is designed to cut through.

> David, um, sorry, I forgot your last name as well: Arika
>                vote/bleed/bloat deck, presumably.
> 
> My predator got out Arika which was scary, but he agreed

Not as scary, though, considering that Matt had two princes out by the
time Arika took her first action.

> Andy Famed Xian's Carna but didn't use it before I played
> one on Andy's Badger to contest.  Andy reduced Xian's

This really helped.  For some reason, my cardflow was really awful
this game.  I never had bleed when I had Perfect Clarity in my hand,
and when I had combat in hand, I didn't have anything useful to do.

> pool some; I'm not really sure what Xian was doing since
> the far side of the table was really far away this game.

Building up, really.  Got out Anastaz and Carna, got them both Rutor's
Hands, hunted some, got out something with MotS, I think (maybe a
.44?), bled a little, but not a lot, as I didn't want them deflected
to Josh's predator.

> I know Xian was getting beat up some and rescuing.  I

That too.

> had to fight Andy a few times too - I actually rushed
> Badger once, torporized her, then she got Giant's Blood
> and got herself out.  Doh!  Had to get her again later.

That was hilarious.  So disheartening to knock a Gangrel into torpor
and not have it mean anything.  Then again, the Giant's Blood didn't
get used on Nu, so...that's a bonus.

> Matt did a couple other nasty things (I forget what,
> another Domain Challenge maybe?) that Xian needed to
> block, he got a Kindred Restructure off to switch me

I blocked two actions in a row, one of which was a rescue, I think. 
I'm pretty sure the second action was a Domain Challenge that was
going to oust Josh, or put him in a world of hurt.  Up to this point,
I had been blocking everything that needed blocking, so I thought that
even though I was tapped out, I could  credibly bluff an additional
block.  Not so...Matt went for the gusto and risked a third action. 
Probably because my combat had been pretty weak most of the day.  :/

> Thanks again, Jeff, for running the event, it was lots
> of fun.  And thanks to everyone else for helping make
> it so much fun.

Ditto.  I had an interesting conversation with Stefan about the
seemingly relaxed attitude, even at a qualifier.  Not that this is
contrary to my experience at other US tournaments, but it was nice to
get an "outsider's" perspective.
 

Brief recap of my first and second rounds.

First round:

Me ->
Robyn Tatu playing dom/for bruise/bleed with Trap/Unfl.Per. ->
J????? (Jason, maybe?) playing dom weenies ->
?????? playing Etrius + Ozmo, presumably DOM/OBF bleed ->
Mike Ooi playing his amazing ANI/DEM goodies

Dom weenies got the first oust, of course, then Mike walled up, and I
eased up on Robyn, so that she could oust the dom weenies.  I figured
that if Robyn didn't oust him, there was no way I could stand up to
the weenies, and Robyn wouldn't be able to take him out if he gained
another 6 pool.  Mike's deck seemed to draw everything it needed at
exactly the right time.  I'd love to see a decklist for it, though
maybe he's got it up on the Austin site...

After Robyn got her first point, I tried to power into her, but Mike
was reeling pretty badly, and Robyn got him before I could oust her. 
After that, although Unflinching Persistence was annoying to me, I was
able to wear her down (intercepting rescue actions and the like), and
ousted her for 2VP each (and 1 to the dom weenies).

Second round:

Erin (I think?) playing Ravnos ANI/CHI intercept ->
Me ->
????? (can't remember, another woman, maybe this was Erin?) playing
Nosferatu 2/3 high cap PRE vote ->
Stefan Ferenci playing 2caps with Meat Hooks ->
Mike Perlman playing Baltimore Purge, vampires influenced were
Bajazet, Ankla Hotep, and the Assamite 4-cap with OBF cel.

Both Stefan and I looked like big threats early, Stefan when he
brought out Lupo and Paul DiCarlo on the first turn; I scared a few
people when I bled for 5 or so before my prey had a vampire up.

I tried to take as few undirected actions as possible, as I didn't
want to be blocked by Gabrin & co., but eventually it was unavoidable.
 At best, my combats with the Ravnos were stand-offs (Theft for 2,
Crows for 2), but even a stand-off wasn't in my favor, since I was
usually hunting.  My prey eventually started hurting Stefan with
Anarchist Uprising and the like, but wasn't moving fast enough.  I
thought that I had a better chance against Stefan, with better combat
and un-Deflectable bleeds, so I started powering forward.  That, and
the not wanting to be blocked by the Ravnos.  Unfortunately, I
couldn't bother to equip my goodies, as the Ravnos would have put a
stop to that.

Eventually, my prey was low on pool, and thought that she could oust
Stefan in one turn, even though he had 11 or so pool.  With his 8
minions and her 2, she thought Anarchist Uprising was a good idea. 
And so it would have been, if she hadn't had only 2 pool as well. 
After the votes were cast, the table realized what had happened, but
it was judged too late to change the votes, and so she ousted herself.
 Stefan then quickly ousted Mike (or maybe it happened before this?),
and it was down to three.

Stefan offered a withdrawl if I walled up against the Ravnos.  Knowing
that he could always leave enough blockers up against my
in-and-out-of-torpor crew (thanks to Ravnos blocking), it seemed like
the best option, especially since my predator was actively blocking
forward, but not bothering to try to put Stefan's weenies down.  It
was close, but Stefan managed to oust my predator before I was gone,
and then he honored his deal.

Total for me at this point, 4VPs, no GWs.  A good third round would
have made my day, but it was not to be.  Even though I was sitting
behind the perfect deck for me, my cardflow was horrible, and my
combos just didn't turn up.

Ah well, another day.


Xian